


Take Care of Our Own

by Wind_Writes



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Established Relationship, Extramarital Affairs, F/M, Friendship, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-24
Updated: 2019-05-24
Packaged: 2020-03-14 15:51:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,876
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18951244
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wind_Writes/pseuds/Wind_Writes
Summary: Life in Tent City wasn’t just celebrations and gang meetings- someone had to take care of the day to day.





	Take Care of Our Own

The summer air was heavy with humidity as FP parked his bike with the rest at the far end of Tent city; threats of thunderstorms had been made all week, but nothing had come in and the humidity had continued to linger without reprieve. FP wiped away the sweat the beaded his forehead as he picked his way through camp, stopping to check in with guys now and again to make sure they were keeping it together considering their circumstances.

Spirits of the senior members were as low as FP had seen them, the appeal of camping having long worn off for most of them and with no business to occupy their time, they were left hanging with little to do. While their trailers at Sunnyside had been nothing to write home about, they had at least offered protection from the elements and a feeling of stability whereas canvas wall tents and old fifth wheels barely offered protection from a heavy rain, let alone any semblance of stability.

His younger recruits seemed to be a little more upbeat; school had let out a week earlier and the youngest members were taking full advantage of their new-found freedom. While the tent life was not what they wanted, the joy of summer break seemed to outweigh the frustrations of the living conditions. For now.

The scent of charcoal grew stronger the closer he got to the center of the compound, a few members still making their way from the thrown together camp kitchen with plates of food. He was impressed at the variety the crew had managed to provide considering the primitive set up, the meal looking far more complete and appetizing than anything he and Jughead could muster up in their own kitchen. 

It took a moment, but he eventually caught sight of the Serpent’s saving grace. Red hair piled high on her head because of the heat and face flushed from manning the line, Dottie was sending her volunteers off to eat their own dinner while she prepared to clean up for the evening.

“Did you eat?”

Dottie jumped at FP’s question, startled to see him at this hour. Neither of the Jones men had ventured into camp recently and few times she had seen them, it was just to hold a quick meeting before disappearing again. She’d heard through the grapevine that Gladys split and figured he would show up eventually, she just hadn’t expected it to be so soon. “I will later. I like to get cleaned up before dark settles in.”

“How’d we do?” Not having been around much for the actual serving of meals, only getting bits of pieces of information from Dottie when she felt like sharing, it was hard for him to gauge the success of her venture. 

“Pretty good.” Attendance for dinner had jumped considerably after school let out, since the kids couldn’t pack their pockets with extra stuff from the cafeteria she’d had to increase the amount she was making. It took a few tries, but they’d finally found the right equation that led to full bellies and enough leftovers for those who needed them.

“More of them showed up than I expected.” FP hadn’t given much thought to where people were eating after getting kicked out but like most of Riverdale he’d just assumed they’d found something, so to see so many gathered around surprised him.

“Hard to say no to free food.” Up until getting kicked out of the Wyrm she was pretty sure most of the guys had lived off of bar food anyways, so what she was dishing up now was probably a step up from what they were used to. Even if it didn’t taste great, a person would be hard press to turn down food when their stomach was empty. “And it’s not like they’ve got anywhere else to go.”

Guilt weighed heavily on FP as fires started to glow against the evening sky, the scene before him reminiscent of a camp one would see beside a battlefield. The evening chatter started to dwindle as some of the Serpents broke off into smaller groups around the fire pits while others headed for their bikes intent on escaping the misery for a few hours. “Thank for pulling this together.”

Dottie wasn’t sure if he was talking about tonight’s meal or the fact that she’d established some sort of half assed kitchen in the middle of the woods, but she appreciated his thanks all the same. “Serpents take care of their own.”

Once she’d realized tent city was not a temporary situation, she immediately jumped into action to figure out a way to feed the large number of people that now had nothing. They couldn’t cook meals every night, funds were tight just doing what she was, but Dottie had managed two big feeds twice a week and usually enough leftovers to feed the most downtrodden members at least twice more.

With the Serpents barred from illegal activity, a lot of the members were without income and with no income to speak of there wasn’t a way for them to buy the basics. The town food bank could only offer so much and Dottie had seen no other option but to pick up where the rest of the help left off.

It hadn’t escaped FP that Dottie had stepped up and taken care of every single Serpent that had needed it, above and beyond what would have been expected of a member. “It’s one thing to take care of a few people, it’s another to feed a couple dozen of them.”

“Someone has to do it.”

FP winced as if Dottie’s verbal jab had physically stuck him. He knew he hadn’t been doing as much as he should be, and that Jughead had been slacking on his responsibilities, but showing up tonight was the start to changing that. “Now that Gladys and Alice are….”

The look Dottie shot FP halted anymore discussion about the other women in his life. She didn’t care about why the business Gladys had going had taken up more of his time or what crazy Alice was doing to draw some of his attention. They had too much history between them for it to be a concern, it was water under the bridge for her and all she wanted was for him to get their homes back. “Have you heard anything about getting everyone back into Sunnyside? Or getting back control of the Wyrm?”

Resting a hip against the corner of the table, FP shook his head in regret. He knew how much getting back what was taken from them meant to Dottie, but even with control of the Sheriffs department he wasn’t going to be able to give her what she was asking. “Even with Hiram in jail, I don’t see either one of those things happening in the near future.”

Frustrated with FP’s answer, Dottie threw a serving spoon into the bucket of suds with more force that necessary, water sloshing over the sides and muddying the ground beneath it. No one was doing anything to write the wrongs that had been dealt to the Serpents and if someone didn’t, or wouldn’t, step up and do something soon, she was willing to take matters into her own hands. “We shouldn’t have to live like this.”

Knowing her temper had a hair trigger FP reached out to the storming redhead in an effort to sooth her, only to drop his arm reluctantly when she ignored him and continued to toss dirty dishes into the soapy water. The only bright side, and he admitted it was slim at that, was that the worst of the seasons had passed and summer would make camp life easier. “At least the weather is turning for the better, it’ll make things a little more habitable.”

“This coming from a man who gets to go home to a house with running water and air conditioning.” Dottie hadn’t kept her feelings about his new inhabitants a secret, the two of them almost coming to blows when Sweet Pea let it slip to her that FP and Jughead had moved in with Gladys on the Northside. It was wrong for them to enjoy the comforts of a house while people who were supposed to be their family were slumming it.

“I would never turn any of them away if they showed up at my door.”  _ Or you _ , was what FP really wanted to say. He couldn’t stomach the idea of Dottie living this way, of being forced to endure these conditions, but she had continuously refused to let him help her despite their years together. It was no secret that his life was one train wreck after the other, his track record with women as bad as his record with the law, but despite all that Dottie had stood by him since they’d joined up with the Serpents together.

The constraints of a traditional relationship had never meshed for them, instead both preferring to keep what they had in the grey area between right and wrong. He was still married and had kids, she preferred to keep her options open and kept an eye on others instead of having her own, he was living on the northside while she had a tent here amongst the troops; his son may be the King, but the redhead before him was the backbone of what remained of a once feared gang. Their history was a mess of business mixed with pleasure and it wasn’t right, but despite all that they couldn’t seem to stay away from each other.

“They can’t stay here forever, FP.” Dottie didn’t bother trying to hide the defeat in her voice. She was tried; tired of being at the bottom end, tired of barely getting by, and tired of taking care of everyone. She knew she was the only one responsible for her current situation, but just once she would like someone to take care of her, someone to make sure she was ok, someone to stand up to her and tell her it’s ok to let go for a little bit.

The distress that filtered across her sea green eyes was too much for FP to stomach, his arm shooting out in a flash to pull her flush against him in comfort. If he had the ability, he would do anything to take her away from this life; she deserved so much more than the cards she’d been dealt, a home to call her own and someone to give her what he couldn’t, but they were both the result of their upbringing and they were too far down the path to change directions now. 

His hold on Dottie tightened as she finally let herself relax against him, his lips resting against the crown of her head. “I’ll figure something out.” It wasn’t lost on him that while he had been buried in Northside drama and Gladys’ reappearance in town, Dottie had been carrying the weight of every Serpent’s wellbeing alone. She’d been strapped with the burden long enough and while he couldn’t get her out of this situation, it was time he stepped in and picked up the slack to make it easier. “I promise.”

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed!


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